Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-07-30
TRIP WITH A PRIEST
AMONG THE AVERAGE POOR oe
 THE GREAT EAST SIDE.

woman's Home-A Neat Place-A
 Mother and Daughter.
 It was about the middle of the afternoo, when the priest stopped before big tane ment building not far from the East river An alley ran directly through this building to the back yard The passage was low. dark and narrow. The yard was about fifteen feet square. It came to an end at A five s,orr building, which stood. therefore. off the street and between blocks, entirely sur- roundcd with solid rows of tenement houses It seemed like a house in well This str7uc- ture swarmed with the life of twenty fami- lies. Besides serving as a habitation for ur- ward of loo human beings, it had been found convenient as hitchlng post for numerous clothes lines. From all the buildings by which II WIS surrounded ran lines that were attached to it in various places. These lines were double, running around pulley at the further end, SD that a woman in the third story by pulling on the empty line could bring all her drying linen within her reach one piece at n time. Certainly a convenient arrangement, but IL was productive of a picturesque array of clothing of all sorts sus- pended at heights varying from one to sir stories, and by sO much the more shutting of light and air. Such is one of the most common features of the tenement districts Were it not thus there would be no place whatever for the hanging out of a wash. for the roofs and back wards combined would not go around to onc-quarter of the tenants: and 1t saves going up and down stairs with big baskets of clothes To roof or yard. as the case might he. But 1t does not save going down stairs even from the seventh or eighth or tenth stories to dispose of refuse, for the only connection with the sewer for these dwelling places Is through outhouses in back yards
 Let us co m here. '" said the priest. leading the way to the door If the narrow building at the back ot the yard. It need not be said that the stairway was steep and dark. At the top of the fifth flight the priest knocked at door
 ''Komm,r exclaimed a strong. hearty voice, and the priest and bis companion entered. Nothing short of Q photograph and catalogue could do justice to the confusion of that room. Imagine, in the first place, that 1t Is about ten feel square. The door, when pushed part way open. comes to a stop against . mass of clothing, or if not clothing odds and ends of cloth: in the heap, which Is about two feet high may be deJect-l remnants of shirts trousers. quilts, skirts stockings shoes, sheets towels, mosquito netting and noniescIipt ar ticles, apparently without number. They are not the evidence that the woman who stands al the other side of the room is in the wash ing business for the things in this heap are hopclesSly ragged, very dirty and unfit for Use. The heap is crowned by a broken down market basket, il which is lying a baby less than year old. She Is covered with the shre,ls of a quilt and she looks indiifereutly out of her dull eyes al the visitors. \ similar heap of clothing IS under the window at the end of the room. Pots, shoes, plates, pans, coal. kinlling wood Ia very lttle of eachl, bottles. brush, a piece of soap and some other articles that have slipped from the memory are on the floor. One cannot step without trcaling upon something besides the boards of the floor. There are a small stove, a box cupboard in which few dishes are un- systematically arranged and mantel shelf at one side of the room. Several chen pictures are on the walls From a smaller and win dovless room in equally hopeless confusion comes a child of abOu; five years to stare glumly at the priest. The woman cooking at the stove is stalwart German, clad appro- priaiely tO her surroundings She smiles pleasantly and talks with all the glIsto and volubiity of typical gossip.
 The Erxt place visited was scrupulously neat A young woman with grave face presi.Iei there She had three children Her husband was away at his work. He is shoe maker, and gets from his regular employ ment S5 a week He pays Sl0 a month for rent, and the priest said that he believed the young man added somewhat to his income by
 &Ir-l.. in. If- for his neiShuors. The only child present was a bright little younsster just able to walk Ee Ioole,l healthy AS the priest went out of tlse building a G-year-old boy ran up to him shouting, -Hulloa, Father He belonged to the same family.
 Up four flights in another building was an elderly woman whose room was fairly neat, but crowded with kitchen and bedroom furniture. Sbe told how her son had fallen into a cellar the day before and had to be taken to a hospital. and how three days be- fore her husband had gone down with a stag iug and injured himself so that be had Co stay in bed
 ayghere is he now f7 asked ti.e priest.
 sOh, he got up this morning and went to work again"
 This family consisted of husband, wife and five children The husband. when he did not lose time from calamities, made Sl2 week, aai. with the wcrk of the mother and the eldls. boy, the total income per week rose Co fFs The wriler asked:
 Would it bc possible by a more sensible cltiay of the income for these people to live r,ore comfortably Is any of 1t wasted in C-iul. or other form of dissipationr
 FThcse people are temperate,' replied the r.~isst cravelv. sIyhether they might not, If tbov knew more about domestic economy, manage to get more for their money, do not know. but there Is an aged father and mother yybosa support, rent and all, has tO come out Of that SIS a week
 At the very top of a lofty building within 1. stones throw of the water front were mother and her daughter at work making shirts. The daughter was about i7 years old, and under better circumstances she might have heen pretty. She rose with a smile to greet the priest, who inquired about her health.
 II am feeling well, today, father. " she said, aIlrt the reason have not been to church for two Sundays is that was sick abed. l can moi % out every day now, as l cannot tell when shall be better. l was 80 sick last night that they thought would rot live till morning.
 ssYes.r interrupted the mother in a tremu. Ions voice. .we thought she would surely die.
 And yet you are at work now 7 be asked.
 ssYes." was the cheerful reply. We must do all we can or we shall not ge; rich
 Further questions developed the fact that these two. who had only themselves to cepend mon. managed by continuous work during tbe light of two days, to do seventy-two cents worth of work. And they sighel a' they ex- plaiued that work was not always steady. The girls voice was weak, her frame thin and wasted. her face coloriesS, and as The prlest and his companion went co"n stars they could only look significantly at eash other, I.,.b silently wondering whether she would t;,.o f,, take her communion at church on the coming Sunday.-New York Sun
 Most Excellent.